H.R. 4640 (eh) To make grants to States for carrying out DNA analyses for use in the [Engrossed in House] ...

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                  In the Senate of the United States,

                      December 6 (legislative day, September 22), 2000.
    Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 
4640) entitled ``An Act to make grants to States for carrying out DNA 
analyses for use in the Combined DNA Index System of the Federal Bureau 
of Investigation, to provide for the collection and analysis of DNA 
samples from certain violent and sexual offenders for use in such 
system, and for other purposes.'', do pass with the following

                               AMENDMENT:

    Page 26, after line 6, insert:

SEC. 11. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE OBLIGATION OF GRANTEE STATES 
              TO ENSURE ACCESS TO POST-CONVICTION DNA TESTING AND 
              COMPETENT COUNSEL IN CAPITAL CASES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) over the past decade, deoxyribo-nucleic acid testing 
        (referred to in this section as ``DNA testing'') has emerged as 
        the most reliable forensic technique for identifying criminals 
        when biological material is left at a crime scene;
            (2) because of its scientific precision, DNA testing can, 
        in some cases, conclusively establish the guilt or innocence of 
        a criminal defendant;
            (3) in other cases, DNA testing may not conclusively 
        establish guilt or innocence, but may have significant 
        probative value to a finder of fact;
            (4) DNA testing was not widely available in cases tried 
        prior to 1994;
            (5) new forensic DNA testing procedures have made it 
        possible to get results from minute samples that could not 
        previously be tested, and to obtain more informative and 
        accurate results than earlier forms of forensic DNA testing 
        could produce, resulting in some cases of convicted inmates 
        being exonerated by new DNA tests after earlier tests had 
        failed to produce definitive results;
            (6) DNA testing can and has resulted in the post-conviction 
        exoneration of more than 75 innocent men and women, including 
        some under sentence of death;
            (7) in more than a dozen cases, post-conviction DNA testing 
        that has exonerated an innocent person has also enhanced public 
        safety by providing evidence that led to the apprehension of 
        the actual perpetrator;
            (8) experience has shown that it is not unduly burdensome 
        to make DNA testing available to inmates in appropriate cases;
            (9) under current Federal and State law, it is difficult to 
        obtain post-conviction DNA testing because of time limits on 
        introducing newly discovered evidence;
            (10) the National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence, 
        a Federal panel established by the Department of Justice and 
        comprised of law enforcement, judicial, and scientific experts, 
        has urged that post-conviction DNA testing be permitted in the 
        relatively small number of cases in which it is appropriate, 
        notwithstanding procedural rules that could be invoked to 
        preclude such testing, and notwithstanding the inability of an 
        inmate to pay for the testing;
            (11) only a few States have adopted post-conviction DNA 
        testing procedures;
            (12) States have received millions of dollars in DNA-
        related grants, and more funding is needed to improve State 
        forensic facilities and to reduce the nationwide backlog of DNA 
        samples from convicted offenders and crime scenes that need to 
        be tested or retested using upgraded methods;
            (13) States that accept such financial assistance should 
        not deny the promise of truth and justice for both sides of our 
        adversarial system that DNA testing offers;
            (14) post-conviction DNA testing and other post-conviction 
        investigative techniques have shown that innocent people have 
        been sentenced to death in the United States;
            (15) a constitutional error in capital cases is incompetent 
        defense lawyers who fail to present important evidence that the 
        defendant may have been innocent or does not deserve to be 
        sentenced to death; and
            (16) providing quality representation to defendants facing 
        the loss of liberty or life is essential to fundamental due 
        process and the speedy final resolution of judicial 
        proceedings.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) Congress should condition forensic science-related 
        grants to a State or State forensic facility on the State's 
        agreement to ensure post-conviction DNA testing in appropriate 
        cases; and
            (2) Congress should work with the States to improve the 
        quality of legal representation in capital cases through the 
        establishment of standards that will assure the timely 
        appointment of competent counsel with adequate resources to 
        represent defendants in capital cases at each stage of those 
        proceedings.

            Attest:

                                                             Secretary.
106th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 4640

_______________________________________________________________________

                               AMENDMENT

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